O. Reg. 205/20: EDUCATION SECTOR, Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020, S.O. 2020, c. 17
Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020
formerly under Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act
EDUCATION SECTOR
Note: This Regulation was revoked on August 31, 2020. (See: 461/20, s. 1)
Last amendment: 461/20.
Legislative History: 461/20.
This is the English version of a bilingual regulation.
Terms of Order
1. The terms of this Order are set out in Schedule 1. O. Reg. 405/20, s. 3.
Schedule 1
Application
1. This Order applies throughout Ontario to school boards within the meaning of subsection 2 (1) of the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014.
Interpretation
2. In this Order,
“assistance” means the support provided under section 3; (“aide”)
“congregate care setting” includes,
(a) a long-term care home within the meaning of the Long-Term Care Homes Act, 2007,
(b) a retirement home within the meaning of the Retirement Homes Act, 2010,
(c) a residential group home for those with developmental disabilities,
(d) an intervenor services residential site,
(e) a site operated by a supportive housing provider,
(f) a site providing residential or emergency residential services under the Violence Against Women Support Services program or the Anti-Human Trafficking Community Supports program,
(g) a children’s residence within the meaning of section 243 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017,
(h) a place of secure custody, a place of open custody, a place of open temporary detention or a place of secure temporary detention within the meaning of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017,
(i) an emergency homeless shelter, or
(j) a hospital with the meaning of the Public Hospitals Act; (“habitation collective”)
“Virus” means the coronavirus (COVID-19). (“virus”)
Assistance
3. School boards shall and are authorized to take, with respect to work deployment and staffing, any reasonably necessary measure to support the operators of congregate care settings in the non-clinical response to the outbreak of the Virus.
Rules
4. In the circumstances described in section 3, the following rules apply for the duration of this Order:
1. Staff of a school board who provide assistance within a congregate care setting remain staff of the school board.
2. The provision of assistance shall not impact whether the school board and the operator of the congregate care setting are treated as constituting one employer for the purposes of subsection 1 (4) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995.
Authorized activities
5. Without limiting the generality of section 3, and despite any other statute, regulation, order, policy, arrangement or agreement, including a collective agreement, school boards shall and are authorized to do the following:
1. Identify staffing priorities and develop, modify and implement redeployment plans, including the following:
i. Redeploying staff within different locations in or between congregate care settings.
ii. Redeploying staff to provide assistance within a congregate care setting.
iii. Redeploying staff to work in COVID-19 Assessment Centres.
iv. Changing the assignment of work, including assigning non-bargaining unit employees or contractors to perform bargaining unit work.
v. Changing the scheduling of work or shift assignments.
vi. Deferring or cancelling vacations, absences or other leaves, regardless of whether such vacations, absences or leaves are established by statute, regulation, agreement or otherwise.
vii. Providing appropriate training or education as needed to staff and volunteers to achieve the purposes of a redeployment plan.
2. Conduct any skills and experience inventories of staff to identify possible alternative roles in priority areas.
3. Require and collect information from staff or contractors about their availability to provide services for the school board.
4. Require the provision of and collect information from staff or contractors about their likely or actual exposure to the Virus, or about any other health conditions that may affect their ability to provide services.
5. Cancel or postpone services that are not related to responding to, preventing or alleviating the outbreak of the Virus.
6. Suspend, for the duration of this Order, any grievance process with respect to any matter referred to in this Order.
Agreement
6. This Order does not authorize a school board to take any action with respect to an employee that contravenes a collective agreement, unless all of the following conditions are met:
1. The school board and the bargaining agent or employee bargaining agency that represents the employee have entered into an agreement with respect to the redeployment of employees to congregate care settings.
2. The conduct of the school board with respect to the employee, taken as a whole, is substantially compliant with the agreement described in paragraph 1.
Greater certainty
7. For greater certainty, but subject to section 6, a school board may implement redeployment plans without complying with provisions of a collective agreement, including lay-off, seniority/service or bumping provisions.